Fairfax MP Clive Palmer has foreshadowed an obstacle to the government's repeal of the mining tax, declaring that it will not come at the expense of income support to orphaned children of war veterans.

The $211-a-year payment to veterans' children, which has an overall price tag of $250,000 for the government, is to be one of the casualties of the mining tax repeal package.

But Mr Palmer, who supports cutting the mining tax, has threatened to block the repeal if the payments are axed.

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''They'll just have to take it out or they won't have any change,'' he told Radio National on Thursday.

Mr Palmer, whose Palmer United Party is working to secure a seat in the fresh WA Senate election, said scrapping the payment was ''a crazy thing to do''.

''We think, a person's given their life for Australia we should be sure that the Australian government won't attack their children after their gone,'' he said.

''They'll still have their benefit because we won't be voting to take it.''

Mr Palmer described is position as a matter of principle and said that most Australians would support the payments being retained.

''If they want to persecute children, people who have died for Australia, that's a higher principle than any sort of financial matter,'' he said.

''I think we've all got a responsibility as Australians to support those children whose fathers and mothers have given their life for the country.

''We support the abolition of the mining tax, I've been the biggest opponent of the mining tax all my life but I'm not going to persecute young children because of it."

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop warned that Mr Palmer's views would not find support in WA.

''That is absolutely against the interests of Western Australia," Ms Bishop told Radio National.

''As a person involved in the mining sector he amongst all people should know that the mining tax is bad for our economy, bad for Western Australia in particular and without the mining tax our economy grow, jobs will thrive and we will be able to put the budget into a better position.''